Handmade Holidays

A quick post before the year officially rolls over. I wanted to write briefly about the gifts I made for the holidays this year, and though it’s more than a week later than I meant to write, I feel compelled to get it down in the proper year.

For my big kids, as well as my 3-year-old niece, a little something for the preschool crowd. These are journal covers/carriers, complete with spaces to hold crayons or pencils.

I used this tutorial, minus the applique on the front, and I added a little velcro closure tab. (Except, at the last minute, my velcro disappeared. The first of many holiday crafting mishaps.)  The kids thought they were kind of neat, but they definitely were not the big hit I hoped they’d be. If I made them again, I’d be a bit more scant on the seam allowances. As it was, I could just barely get the composition notebooks in there, and once the crayons were in the slots, it was really straining.

For my dad, stepmom, stepsister, and mom, I made iPad cases. What can I say? Once I hit on an idea, everybody gets one. I’m like the Oprah of iPad cases. YOU get an iPad case! YOU get an iPad case! EVERYBODY gets an iPad case! I used Faith’s tutorial, which was excellent. Picking out the fabrics was fun, even though it meant my sewing room looked like a tornado hit.

These were also thrown off-course. I was sewing them rather last-minute (of course), and the day before we were to leave for Chicago, my back went out. I had to bring the supplies with me and finish on a beat-up machine at my dad’s house. It was a fiasco, but they got finished Christmas Eve – hence the terrible lighting in the photos.

(I may have also made one for myself, after chopping up some pajamas…)

I made my stepdad a Kidlet, at Beth’s suggestion, and it was adorable and he liked it. And I completely neglected to take a picture. It was that kind of week.

For my little one, and for my three-month-old niece, I made taggie blankets. It’s minky on one side and satin on the other – my first time sewing with either fabric – and a layer of batting in the middle. My Ellie was a little skeptical at first, but now she’s a big fan. Hopefully her cousin Penny likes hers, as well. It was shipped off to Colorado.

And my favorite gift of all went to Penny’s almost-2-year-old brother, my nephew, Charlie. I decided to make him a set of bean bags, with the numbers 1 – 10 on them, and if I do say so myself, I think they turned out smashingly. I think #3 is my favorite.

And in the hopes of them not simply scattering all over my brother and sister-in-law’s house, I decided to make a bag to hold them.  I used Jeni’s pattern, which simply exploded all over the quilting interwebz as soon as she put it out. Perfect for holiday gifts. I will admit, I don’t often buy patterns. With quilts, I can usually reverse-engineer something just by looking at it, or at least get close enough.  But Jeni’s was a great pattern and totally worth the purchase. I highly recommend it. I made the “Project Bag” size and it worked out great, though I had to get a little patchwork-y because I didn’t have big enough pieces of the fabrics I wanted to use.

There you have it, two hours to spare until 2012, and I’ve got all of my completed sewing projects blogged. WHEW.

See some other great holiday gifts at The Polka Dot Chair’s Linky Party!